A Flower On A Vine

There once was a man who was very, very ill -- on death's door, his doctor's said. His best friend came to visit and asked him what he thought. The man sighed, and without lifting his head from his pillow pointed out the window at a vine growing on a wall in his garden. The friend looked and saw that there was one bloom remaining on the vine, made all the lovelier by the starkness of its surroundings since every other flower and nearly every leaf from the vine had already fallen. Autumn was drawing to a close, and winter was coming. As he let his hand drop to the bed, the man whispered, "I will last no longer than that flower. When it drops, so shall I" -- very bleak words, indeed, for the flower certainly did not have much more time left on the vine, surely a matter of days only. The friend returned the next day to find the man staring at that one remaining flower and seeming to get weaker. Day after day the man would open his eyes to discover that flower still hanging on to the vine. The days became grayer and colder, and winter came, and still the patient and the flower remained. Through the worst of winter, the man was a little delirious and so didn't really think about how strange it was to see the flower still hanging on in the snow. Every day, he would open his eyes, just a little surprised to still be alive and to see that flower there. And, they both hung on through that entire winter. When spring came, the man began to regain his strength and recuperate. And still, he stared at the flower. Sometimes his friend thought he could detect the slightest bit of a grin now with his gaze, but he was not certain. And a day came when the man was strong enough to go out into his beloved garden, now in full bloom. He went straight to the vine and to his flower -- which he discovered was not a real blossom but a painted likeness on the wall. rnWe live out what we believe. Pay attention to your beliefs and have them SERVE you for your best, most joyful life. Affirmation: I chose my beliefs to serve me.